COMPARISON - '08 Civic Hybrid vs. Prius

[ThePackage]

As a PROUD owner of a '06 Prius (35,000miles), a friend of mine is looking at purchasing either a new Prius or the Hunda Civic Hybrid. As I do not have a clue concerning the technical differences, I thought I would ask Prius Chat experts. Please let me know. Thanks

[ericbecky]

The real question is what is important for your friend.
Some low hanging fruit are the size and style of vehicle.

The Prius is larger than the Civic.
The Prius is a hatchback, the Civic is a sedan.

These are usually two pretty important factors and separate people into one of the two vehicles.

In other general ways they are similar.
They both get good gas mileage.
They both cost in the $20K range.

[NoMoShocks]

I bought a 2006 Civic Hybrid and took it on a 12,000 mile test drive before I got my Prius which now has close to 30,000 miles. For me, there is no comparison. From my perspective as a just under 6 ft tall male, Prius has more leg room and head room for from and rear passengers. Your friend should climb in and out of each car ten times in a row to see if they feel like they are crawling out of a pit to get out of either car.

Civic cargo capacity is very limited with battery behind the back seat, extending upward to the rear window shelf. The seat cannot fold down like an all gasoline Civic.

The Hybrid system is less integrated. More of an electric assist for a conventional gasoline power train. The ICE only shuts down when the car is at a complete stand still. Will stay on if you are continuously creeping ahead such as waiting for metering lights.

The Civic might be better for those who have mostly short trips, but it is not optimized to provide better city mileage than highway after the initial warm up like a Pirus. I averaged around 38 MPG and best was all highway about 46. With my Prius, I can easily average 48 with all my combined driving. I go over a couple of big hills each day from near sea level to about 1000 feet.

Some say the Civic handles better, but after a few simple modifications, I believe the Prius can handle as well or better than a stock Civic, and I believe Prius has slightly more get up and go without enering the Sceeming stage of opperation.

In summary, Pius has more room and versatility. Civic may be better if most driviing is very short 5-10 minute trips or if more asteticly pleasing to buyer. Your friend should try to rent one of each for at least a day long test drive over a minimum 1 hour extedned road trip.

[Betelgeuse]

You're obviously going to get Prius-biased responses here. However, there are a couple of things that some people consider positive about the Civic. One is the more "traditional" styling (i.e. it doesn't "look like a hybrid," whatever that means). This is not something that is matters for me, but there are definitely people who feel that way. Another thing which I actually like about the Civic is that it has more "knobs and buttons" for controlling things like the climate control and the stereo. I like the Prius's MFD for some things, but I'm not crazy about it for the climate control.

Better things about the Prius include better gas mileage, more cargo space (a virtue of the hatchback), and a more versatile interior in general (i.e. you have the ability to fold down seats to increase cargo room).

[vuapplepudding]

ericbecky,

I am a proud PRIUS owner. I looked at the CIVIC too. I was a long-time HONDA owner until they started acting like GM in their design and marketing.

1) The CIVIC is advertised to shut off the engine at stops, but on my test drive this never happened. I do a lot of stop and go driving, or what they call traffic jam, so this feature in the PRIUS is way cool.

Also, when my baby is being difficult and I do not want to get him out of the car. My wife can run into the store and get something while I run the AC with the engine off. In the shade, I can have the AC running 15 - 20 min. without the engine turning on.

2) IMA information sucks if you like to know how your gas mileage is doing. There is no information like on the PRIUS, that is unless they have changed it for the 08.

3) CIVIC has a great clear and clean instrument display. Colorful and in front of you. I feel like a jet pilot in the driver's seat. PRIUS display is also in front of you, but just not as colorful.

4) PRIUS audio is far superior. The CIVIC sound system sounds flat and no bass response.

5) The back-up camera on the PRIUS is great if you have lots of kids in the neighborhood or in the parking lots. When I am trapped between two large SUVs, the camera has a wide enough angle lens that I can see people in the video (MFD screen) way before I would have seen them by turning around.

6) Far more people drive the PRIUS, means more trained techs, more mods, more stuff for your ride.

7) People asked about your PRIUS more than the CIVIC because they cannot distinguish a CIVIC hybrid from a regular CIVIC easily.

Hope this helps. Again a little biased, but I plugged the CIVIC a little too.

[onlynark]

Originally Posted by vuapplepudding

1) The CIVIC is advertised to shut off the engine at stops, but on my test drive this never happened. I do a lot of stop and go driving, or what they call traffic jam, so this feature in the PRIUS is way cool.

Once the car is warmed up, the engine will shut off once you hit 7 mph(when slowing down). I drive in warmer climates, so I dont know how well it works in sub-zero temperatures. If you want to creep though, it starts back up again and doesnt shutoff until u hit 7 or 8 mph again. So it sucks if you are in traffic because its going to shutdown and startup and shutdown and startup. If you dont slow down all the way, then the start of the engine is very abrupt.

Originally Posted by vuapplepudding

2) IMA information sucks if you like to know how your gas mileage is doing. There is no information like on the PRIUS, that is unless they have changed it for the 08.

Trips A and B have the mpg display. I use trip A for long term mpg display, and trip B for tank mpg (this allows me to be fairly accurate in knowing how much gas I have left, hows your bladder doing?)

Originally Posted by vuapplepudding

4) PRIUS audio is far superior. The CIVIC sound system sounds flat and no bass response.

o hell no, I dont think so. If you want bass response, well you need to tweak with the settings and increase it. The sound system is by far superior to the prius, but that is going of the fact if you have the HCHII with the nav and the prius with package #5. With the nav, the audio is seemlessly integrated into the nav, you get a slot for a compact flash to store your music, and the display is uncluttered like the prius.

To add, the alpine navigation is BY FAR superior to the prius. If you are getting the prius, skip out on the navigation cause it sucks.

Other than that, the prius gets better gas mileage, as much as 10-15% or more. It has more room, so more versatile. It has the smart key system (although I dont like it at all, I much prefer the regular key ignition system). Its also a better hybrid with much faster acceleration and a smoother transmission at lower speeds.

[Rybold]

What about the style of the interior? I have heard many people, in conversation, agree with me that the style of the Prius interior looks "weird." Not that weird is a bad thing, but I hope the next Prius that comes out has a "normal" shaped/designed dashboard. (maybe something that looks more like the Corolla, lol.)

[ericbecky]

I guess before I get into all the technical details like IMA versus HSD, which carshuts off when, the consumption screens, etc, I try to get some basic understanding of what people are looking for in a vehicle.

I can easily overload people with all the nitty gritty details, but the reality is, many people just need the high level details when making their decisions.

[M. Oiseau]

Prius can be loaded with Lexus features, if that matters.

Voice Command
Me: "Seventy two degrees."
Sexy Prius Lady: "Setting temperature to 72 degrees."
Me: "I'm hungry."
Sexy Prius Lady: "System is showing restaurant icons."
Me: "I love you."
Sexy Prius Lady: "Pardon."

[Jennjay]

A true comment, about putting "lexus" upgrades in the Prius. I wanted a "luxury" vehicle and the Prius can be ordered that way, while the Civic cannot